Police: KY mayor hurt in car wreck with driver who said he’d been drinking alcohol
The mayor of Monticello was hurt in a car wreck this week while riding with a driver whom police said later admitted he started drinking alcohol several hours before the accident.
The driver, Bryan C. Rose, allegedly left the scene of the wreck before police arrived and found Mayor Tracie Sexton in the damaged car.
Rose, 50, was charged with first-degree wanton endangerment, leaving the scene of an accident and reckless driving, according to a citation filed by James Barnett, a Wayne County sheriff’s deputy.
The incident happened early Tuesday.
Barnett said in an arrest warrant that Rose was driving a 2004 Pontiac when he ran off North Main Street in Monticello and hit a utility pole on the passenger side of the vehicle.
Rose fled on foot before deputies arrived, but Sexton confirmed he had been driving, according to the warrant.
The inside of the car smelled like alcohol and deputies found a beverage believed to be whiskey, Barnett said in the warrant.
Later the same day, police found Rose, who said he had started drinking hours before the wreck.
Rose also said he and Sexton had been arguing in the car, and that he “kicked it down,” meaning he accelerated, and was driving at a high rate of speed, the warrant said.
Deputies arrested Rose at 8:35 p.m. Tuesday.
Barnett said video from nearby businesses confirmed Rose’s account of his driving.
Wayne County Sheriff Tim Catron said Rose and Sexton are dating. Sexton had not been drinking before the incident, Catron said.
Catron said Sexton was injured but refused to be transported by ambulance for treatment just after the wreck.
She later went to the Wayne County Hospital and was admitted, Catron said.
The hospital declined to confirm Thursday if the mayor was at the facility. Sexton was not available at city hall for comment.
Rose was charged with arson in neighboring Pulaski County in 2016, but the charge was handled through pretrial diversion.
Rose also was charged with drunken driving in Cumberland County in August 2019.
The citation in that case said Rose drove to the demolition derby at the Cumberland County Fair and parked his truck near several police officers.
When he got out, it was obvious he was under the influence of alcohol, according to the citation from Kentucky State Police.
Rose told police he was “the mayor of Wayne County,” according to the citation, but they arrested him after he failed field sobriety tests, according to the citation.
He pleaded not guilty to the charge and the case is pending.
This story was originally published June 4, 2020 at 5:00 PM.
